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The Champions League is the most elite competition in football. In a former epoch, this title was given to the World Cup. However, since the advent of the modern money-driven game, club football is generally full of teams at a much higher standard.
Although victorious Champions League seasons are typically defined by a whole team, there are occasions where the efforts of a single player prove to be the real driving force behind this. Whilst this isn't to say they quite won it single-handed, it is to acknowledge that they were by large the main reason their team was able to claim the illustrious Champions League trophy.
In this article, we are going to look at arguably the top 5 player seasons in the Champions League era.
#5 Kaka (2006/07)
In at number 5 is Kaka's memorable 2006/07 Champions League campaign, where he led AC Milan to their 7th Champions League title. During the campaign he directly contributed over a goal a game for his club, scoring 10 and assisting a further 3 goals.
He would finish as the Champions League top scorer for the season, but it wasn't just his stats that earned him a place on this list. It was also the manner in which he played, his blistering pace, elite play making, and goal scoring prowess that illuminated the football world.
Although we now look back at this season as the year Kaka peaked as a player, at this point we didn't know this and were sure he would be a top player for many years to come.
Not only did AC Milan win the Champions League, they also did it by exacting revenge on Liverpool, who had miraculously beaten them 2 years prior in Istanbul. As a result of Kaka's extraordinary season, he won the Champions League's best player, best forward, and to top it off, the Ballon d'Or as well by beating Ronaldo and Messi to the golden ball.
#4 Didier Drogba (2011/12)
In one of the most romantic Champions League tales of recent decades, Didier Drogba led a disjointed Chelsea side to their first ever Champions League final. Despite Chelsea enjoying a golden era between 2004-2008, the London Blues were unable to emulate their domestic success in Europe.
With the bulk of this generation of players either gone or past their peak, it looked like Chelsea would have to wait for a long number of years before finally winning Europe's top club prize.
Didier Drogba had other ideas, and despite being a 34-year-old at the time, he led Chelsea to the Champions League. Although he didn't finish as the top goalscorer, that went to Lionel Messi, he did score vitally important goals for Chelsea.
This included scoring their opening goal in their dramatic comeback against Napoli, scoring against Barcelona in the semi-finals, and most notably a last-minute equalizer against Bayern Munich in the final.
And if that wasn't enough, with Chelsea on the verge of winning the penalty shootout against Bayern, Drogba scored the winning goal in one of the most dramatic finals in recent years.
What makes this triumph so great is that it starred a striker past his prime, and a team well below the standards of their rivals.
Despite already having a great career, Didier Drogba reminded us what a world class talent he really was.
#3 Cristiano Ronaldo (2013/14)
During the 2013/14 season, Cristiano Ronaldo further confirmed the reality that during this period, he was unquestionably the best player in the world. All the way back in 2002, Real Madrid won their 9th Champions League title, thanks to a indescribable volley by Zinedine Zidane.
After that, there was a huge desire in the club to win the 'La Decima', but they would have to wait 12 long years for that to happen. However, during the 2013/14 season, it appeared that 'La Decima' was getting closer and closer.
This was largely due to none other than Cristiano Ronaldo who was in inspired form during this European campaign.
In just 11 games, the Portuguese scored a record-breaking 17 goals, and a further 5 assists, which equates to a ludicrous 2-goal contributions a game.
This is statistically the single greatest Champions League season ever, that saw Ronaldo break a number of records. But what made it even more poetic was that his stellar efforts aided Real Madrid to win their 10th Champions League.
#2 Cristiano Ronaldo (2016/17)
Coming in at number 2, is also Cristiano Ronaldo, who during the 2016/17 season, made the impossible, yet again, possible. Real Madrid had won the Champions League the year before with Ronaldo scoring a whopping 16 goals.
They were the defending champions and were keen to become the first team in the Champions League era to successfully defend their title.
Despite advancing through the group stages, things didn't look great; especially for Ronaldo who only had 2 goals to his name. A goalless Round of 16 left even more people questioning whether the Portuguese was finally declining.
These doubts fell onto deaf ears however, when Cristiano Ronaldo scored 5 goals past Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals, 3 goals past Atletico in the semi-finals, and 2 past Juventus in the final.
Not only that, he scored back-to-back hat-tricks in the quarters and semis, becoming the first and only player to achieve this feat.
Although he didn't score as many goals as he did in the 2013/14 season, it was the manner in which he did so, scoring against the toughest teams in the biggest stages that stood out.
Furthermore, his 10 goals scored between the quarter-finals and the final is a record, and it showed why many feel he is the greatest big game player in the world, perhaps ever.
And to put the cherry on the cake, Real Madrid became the first side to defend their Champions League title, with Ronaldo winning the Ballon d'Or as a result.
#1 Steven Gerrard (2004/05)
Coming in at number one is Steven Gerrard's mythical 2004/05 season which saw Liverpool win their 5th Champions League trophy.
In many ways, Gerrard is the most underrated player of the 21st century. Despite having the passing qualities of Xavi and Iniesta, the scoring prowess of Frank Lampard, the defensive abilities of Makelele, and leadership skills par excellence, he is strangely overlooked as a player.
This is undoubtedly in large to do with him playing at Liverpool during the majority of his career, during a time where they were nowhere near the other top sides in the world.
Despite having offers to play for Manchester United, Real Madrid, Chelsea, AC Milan, and more, Steven Gerrard stayed at a lesser Liverpool side out of devotion and loyalty. The implications of this are two-fold, firstly it meant he was never afforded the world class squads that the likes of Ronaldo, Messi, and all the players previously mentioned had, and secondly it meant he didn't win as many trophies as he could have.
Because many pundits and commentators look at titles as defining factors of a player's career, many have overlooked Steven Gerrard's virtually peerless ability as an all-round midfielder.
His 2004/05 Champions League campaign proved exactly this point, where Gerrard led an average Liverpool side to the Champions League title, beating a number of world class teams in the process. From scoring a last-minute screamer against Olympiakos to see them qualify for the knockouts, to being the center piece of Liverpool's team and an incomparable leader, Gerrard proved how good he was.
As a center midfielder, he was never going to score 10+ goals like Ronaldo or Messi, what he provided was something else, that is often overlooked in the current game.
In addition, Gerrard's role in the final, which saw Liverpool overturn a 3-0 deficit to win the match, was arguably the greatest ever, with him playing tirelessly in virtually every position on the pitch to ensure his team would win.
Due to the quality of opponents Liverpool defeated, the lack of quality in their own team, and the impact Gerrard had in dragging them to the title, this has to go down as the greatest player season in the Champions League's history.
